Daily Inspiration: Meet Charissa Smith

Today we’d like to introduce you to Charissa Smith.

Hi Charissa, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
My sophomore year of college, I knew I wanted to be an Interior Designer. But my dad is a conservative doctor, so an artist was unheard of in our family, and he was not going to pay for that. I wound up studying psychology at Mount St Mary’s College, but the whole time I knew I wanted to be an artist. So after graduating, I applied to Maryland Institute College of Art for yet another bachelor’s degree that I would have to pay for myself. In my first semester, out of all the undergraduate students, my sculpture was chosen for the Graduate show. My dad became the biggest part of my team from then on. He even named my sculpture for the show: The Tacky Violin (it was pink and gold leaf faberge eggs, so…).

I’ve loved to paint since I was seven years old, and I’ve always made sure it’s been part of my life, both in school and professionally. As a licensed Interior Designer, I painted the renderings for all of my clients. Nowadays, rendering is all done digitally, but I had to do everything by hand with such precision that my clients could know exactly what their space would look like when I finished (which is actually one of my favorite things about painting for myself — there’s such freedom in conveying what’s in your mind without having to worry about making it so exact). I built my own Interior Design company in 1990, where I worked on commercial, residential, ground-up projects, you name it. I worked so closely with my clients to customize their homes that I personally did the faux-finishing on some projects and even designed both the exterior and interiors of a house before they even hired an architect.

My career had a bit of a pause when my daughter booked a Nickelodeon job in Los Angeles for four seasons. So off to LA, we went. Even though our lives became “go-go-go”, I never stopped painting. And my neighbors were the first to notice. I have always favored oil paints and impasto as my mediums of choice, which are very toxic, so I have to keep the garage open when I paint (that’s where my studio is). When the door’s open, neighbors stop in all day long, filming my art and complimenting my art. My friends and family now call my garage door the winking door because apparently, when it opens, it’s a “come hither” sign to the neighborhood. These wonderful people made me realize for the first time: maybe I am an artist! Maybe I should do this for real! They’ll never know how deeply their camaraderie and support inspired me to continue to better my artwork. And on the suggestion of one of these neighbors, I started doing shows at 60 years old! Can you believe it? And then I was commissioned, and my work has been trending upward ever since. At 60. It is truly never too late to do what you love.

The lesson that’s been apparent throughout my entire life is you have to have a good team (whether it’s my devoted friends and family, my talented mentors, or my unknowingly inspiring neighbors) to push you and support you, and you have to love what you do; I’ve never felt like I was working a single day of my career. It’s not about being another Monet or another Picasso — it’s about believing in yourself until the very end, taking risks, and working your ass off. And of course, you have to genuinely enjoy the actual act of creating your art. I’ve sold more paintings in the last year than I dreamed I would, but to show just how much work went into that, I’ve probably painted 10 times that amount of paintings in the last year alone! You don’t need to be famous or rich from what you do — that has never been my goal or what I’m seeking. But if you do what you love most, the rest falls into place naturally.

Painting takes me to a different place — a blissful place. It’s great therapy for me. I feel as though I have no challenges in life while I’m painting. If I pick that brush up while I’m dead on my feet, I am suddenly energized. I paint for me. I worked on interiors my whole career, and I always said, “If I ever have the opportunity to do nothing but paint, I will.” And here I am.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
When I started my own business back in 1990, I was eating nothing but lettuce sandwiches. I was so grateful my father put his faith in me and paid for two separate degrees, so I didn’t have the heart to ask him for any money. I pulled out the phone book and started cold calling, starting with the As. I made it all the way to the Cs and I got my first client.

At MICA, everything was going so well, but when I was in Fine Arts Drawing II, I really hit a roadblock. It just did not click with me. The professor was very strict and critical, and when we were creating pieces with charcoal, we had to anonymously present all of our pieces to the class where I was mortified to hear all of my drapery drawings looked like meat. I was creating 10 pieces a week, trying to get it right, but the lightbulb just wasn’t going off. Until it was almost too late. One day, we had to draw an open paper lunch bag pinned to the wall, and something clicked. I was so inspired I drew three versions of it and quietly placed them at the front of the room. They were his favorites for the whole class.

This taught me that the answer’s there if I believed in myself; I just had to keep going. I tell everyone that everything has an ugly phase. You have no idea what your finished piece can be if you don’t press forward.

One of my first paintings I created when I decided to seriously pursue painting was with impasto and a palette knife. I had no idea what I was doing, but I kept returning to it in the middle of the night every time I had an idea and pushed through all the ugly phases (there were several!), because I knew the image was working its way out. It turned out to be one of my best works of art and one of the first and largest paintings I sold.

Perhaps the biggest struggle I’ve had to overcome in my fine artist career is the vulnerability that comes with submitting my work. My interior design business had been so successful that I had accustomed myself to knowing I would succeed. So I was scared of my own opinion of myself should I not be selected for art shows and galleries. I had to coach myself on the knowledge that challenges only improve the value of future work and you can’t be selected for every single thing you submit to; but if you dig in your heels and keep trying, you can push that wall down.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am a fine art painter. I specialize in oil paint, acrylics, and impasto renderings of French-impressionistic still lifes, tablescapes, and landscapes. I take great inspiration from artists like Monet, Manet, Singer Sargent, Marcel Duchamp, and Frank Lloyd Wright. I infuse classical subject matter with a carefree vibrancy to instill feeling into my work. I look at life through rose-colored glasses — it’s who I am — and it comes through in my artwork. I paint feel-good places and moments in time.

I am also known for sliding a nice pink piece of cake into the painting wherever it fits in!

I am most proud of the fact that I’ve always had a great team, an amazing family, and incredible mentors. I believe in “team”. They create momentum and support. For me, painting is not a one-man show.

What are your plans for the future?
My plans for the future include giving back more with my art. I have done paintings for charity, which I intend on doing more of — there’s no better feeling.

I also want to grow as an artist and expand my style repertoire so I can tell new and exciting stories.

I’ve had some success this last year in getting into galleries, and I’m going to keep pursuing that to the fullest so that even more people can be inspired by my artwork. I’ve had people tell me that my art transports them to either a happy memory in their own life or a completely new place that they wish they could go to. What I care most about happening with my art is reaching more people to make them feel a moment of peace, like they’re welcomed in the world of my paintings.

I feel so blessed and thank God everyday.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: Instagram.com/Charissasmithartist
• Other: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1AjBA2sdCcNiJVrxRradoKU4p0VNTd0_-/view?usp=sharing